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Tiger
Woods PGA Tour 09

Score: 8.0 / 10

There’s something ironic about being able
to purchase an electronic version of a game for less than it would take
to pay the green fees for any of the courses that are being simulated.
That being said, golfing on a budget isn’t too bad if you end up doing
it with Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09. Admittedly, the bulk of my golfing
experiences can be summarized in two activities – mini-golf and drunken
pitch and putt. I have shot a round or two, but am certainly not going
to be wondering what to invest my winnings in any time soon.

The single player campaign starts off with
a decent character design. You can either create a character from
scratch or import a photo to map your face. Once you create your links
alter-ego, you take a skills test where you are rated on 4 categories:
Power, Accuracy, Short-Game, and Putting. These skill ratings are

modified by your performance on tour and in
competition matchups – as you do better at those activities, the skill
improves. You can modify these attributes either temporarily with
practice sessions (with Tiger’s Coach, Hank Haney) or purchase items
from the pro shop that will offer permanent benefits (just like that +2
charisma t-shirt I bought).

Your newly created character can either

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tackle the pro tour or earn money by
competing on tour locations in Tiger Challenges. As like most EA Sports
games, a season on tour can be set as a proper four-round event or you
can cut it down to just one round.

The Tiger Challenges will test a variety of
skills – mastery of short game, putting, hammering the long ball, or
just straight competition against pros. Completing these events will
raise money quickly and unlock equipment in the pro shop. For some
reason, the equipment that gives you any sort of useful bonuses either
leave your character looking like a tool or at least someone who dresses
in the dark. My character appears like a young republican trying out for
a position as a tiki-bartender.

The control system for gameplay allows you
to micro manage your swing. The actual swing can either be either
controlled with the left control stick, or for those amongst us who have
been playing golf games for years, the old 3-click method is available.
In addition to control the direction and power of the stroke, you can
control the shot type which can affect the amount of roll and
trajectory. If all this isn’t enough for you, there is an option to
adjust the amount of loft on the shot.

To better manage your equipment to your own
style of play, you can directly modify your clubs to your preferences –
like more loft in your driver but not your irons? You can do that. Tend
to slice on tee shots? You can add play to that club to compensate your
shots down the middle. Spending the time to modify your clubs can add a
few extra yards to your drives and help create the play necessary to
drift your shot around that bootleg.

Excessive micro-management aside, the game
looks quite good in most respects. Characters and the courses look
wonderful in HD, however, much like the other EA SPORTS franchises, the
crowds look awful. The people on the sidelines are extraordinarily
blocky and have some of the strangest reactions that you’ll ever see
from people – I sent a screaming line drive into the crowd on a slice
and the only person near the shot to react was the guy I smoked and his
response was no greater than if I accidentally nudged him. However, some
people about 50 yards away dove for cover as if someone was firing
wildly over the crowd. If you’re going to add the crowd as an
interactive surface, this was not the execution to aim for. The trees
are also another point of contention, if you’ve ever hit a golf ball
into the branches, you’ll notice that there might be some deflection and
the ball will slow down as it goes through. Apparently not these trees
though – they will fall straight to the ground as if someone caught it
and dropped it straight down.

To the actual gameplay – the nice thing
about a golf game is that it’s the only game I own where I can step away
with the game unpaused and not worry about the game getting really
screwed up in my absence. It’s as fast of a game as you want to play –
if you wish to absorb the whole experience, just let it play and line up
your shots meticulously. That being said, the best results will only be
achieved with patience and planning. Slow down and observe really comes
to the front when you get one of the lags in the single player campaign
– every couple of holes, I’ll sink a put and my guy will still be
hunched over the crowd is dead quiet. Then ten seconds later, the entire
gallery erupts and my character goes through his happy dance. A
re-occurring lag in a single player game? That’s a bit disappointing in
this day and age. Sounds and soundtrack is pretty subdued – but
appropriate considering the source material.

Multiplayer has a ton of variety available
to those playing head to head at home or against those all around the
world. The number of game modes is crazy, so if playing normal match
golf isn’t your thing, you’ll find a personal favorite amongst all those
choices.

All in all,
Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 offers a lot of
positives, and both casual and hardcore golfers should be entertained by
this game. Despite its’ negatives this is a fun game that could have
benefited by a little more polish.